Line #114 Main/InanimateCompetitor


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rockwins350_1732.jpg]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Cue the sounds of jaws dropping to the floor.]]
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8	->''"I can't believe it. My purebred, which cost me $1,700... lost to a rock."''
9	-->-- '''Squidward Tentacles''', ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E15TheGreatSnailRaceMidLifeCrustacean The Great Snail Race]]"
10
11	AliceAndBob are about to face off in the event of their lives. But, what's this? A new challenger approaches! Alice and Bob have a new competitor, and that new competitor is...
12
13	...a rock. Just a rock.
14
15	This trope is what happens when a competition has one or more competitors who are inanimate. This trope also applies in cases where the competitor is a corpse, but not out of the running. Usually found in comedic works, to give otherwise tense competitions an air of absurdity. Bonus points if the inanimate competitor actually manages to [[DarkHorseVictory win the contest]] against [[CrackDefeat the far superior competitors]] even [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing without doing anything at all]]. Usually a case of NothingIsFunnier, particularly if we are shown the result but not how it happened.
16
17	Compare AnimalAthleteLoophole, where the competitor is animate, but not human. If the competitor ''used'' to be animate but has since died, this may overlap with MummiesAtTheDinnerTable. Related to EnmityWithAnObject.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples:
21
22	[[foldercontrol]]
23
24	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25	* ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'': During the heroes' raid on the Pomade Ring, they encounter [[ArcVillain Captain Battleship]]'s subcommanders in a series of one-on-one battles. One of these subcommanders turns out to be an inanimate stick of yogurt-flavored gum, with its "battle" against [[AnthropomorphicFood Jelly Jiggler]] amounting to a competition over who can be more appetizing to a random hungry dog. Jelly, [[ButtMonkey as is typical]], loses to the gum – apparently, dogs really like the flavor of yogurt.
26	* ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm'': In a parody where the Holy Grail War is changed into a game show, the seventh contestant Assassin is only present as a cardboard cutout, because the actual Assassin is bound to remain near a single gate.
27	* In a strange meta example, the first [[https://chainsaw-man.fandom.com/wiki/Popularity_Polls popularity poll]] for ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' had Kobeni's car[[labelnote:*]]Which Power [[spoiler:accidentally killed an assassin]] with and Denji used to [[spoiler:perform the FinishingMove on a major villain]][[/labelnote]] as an option, and it managed to take 7th place. [[ButtMonkey Kobeni herself ranked 8th.]] The second poll included several more inanimate objects, including Power's [[FakeBoobs breast pads]], Aki's cigarette, and the grilled meat [[spoiler:made from Makima's corpse]]. The latter ranked the highest (right above Kobeni's car) at 14th place. [[https://www.viz.com/blog/posts/chainsaw-man-popularity-poll-results-august-2022 The poll for English fans]] made the car the only object as an option. Even though Kobeni was elevated all the way to fifth place, her car was once again just above her!
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Films — Animation]]
31	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'': The thing that really rubs in how little respect the general public has for Robin and the Titans is an announcement that there's going to be a movie about "Batman's greatest ally and best friend" -- his utility belt.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
35	* [[Creator/EddieMurphy Eddie Murphy's]] 1992 Film ''{{Film/The Distinguished Gentleman}}'' plays with this trope. Floridian {{Main/Con Artist}} Thomas Jefferson Johnson, played by Murphy, shares part of his name with a local congressman named Jeff Johnson. The plot of the film properly kicks off when the congressman dies of a heart attack and Johnson takes the opportunity to run a campaign for the Congressional seat solely based on the idea that voters will just vote for the name they're familiar with, even though the actual congressman is dead. And it works.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Literature]]
39	* ''Literature/TheHareAndThePineapple'', a [[MemeticMutation memetically infamous]] short story on a New York eighth-grade English exam, in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a pineapple challenges a hare to a race]] in a tortoise-and-the-hare allusion. Everyone thinks there is some kind of trick behind it, but there really isn't, and the pineapple really does just sit there and do nothing.
40	* ''Literature/JunieBJones Smells Something Fishy'': Junie B.'s school is having Pet Day and she wants to bring a pet, not a photo display of her dog. She plans to bring in a fish her grandmother caught (even after being told it's dead) and, when her grandmother takes the fish back, she grabs a fish stick out of the fridge. Mrs. handles the situation by looking up "pet" in the dictionary and asking Junie B. if Fish Stick fits the criteria (which, by Junie B.'s definition, he does). Fish Stick even wins "Most Well-Behaved".
41	* Of a sort in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. Early in ''Words of Radiance'', Shallan attempts to [[ItMakesSenseInContext convince a stick that it could become fire, only for the stick to obstinately refuse and reply with "I am a stick".]] Ever after when seeing the memory of the event from her point of view, it always is referred to as a battle against the stick that Shallan lost.
42	* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, Late Jim Cloop has been ''repeatedly'' elected mayor of Scrote, despite being dead. He died in office almost immediately after being elected the first time, and they couldn't afford to run another election. When his term was up, everyone agreed that he hadn't embezzled government funds or raised taxes, and was therefore the best mayor they'd ever had, so they voted him in again. And they have done so ever since.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
46	* An episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had a variation: Chandler and Joey are playing foosball, both of them on the same side. We hear a ball sinking, and a perplexed Chandler asks "How did we... lose?"
47	* ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' once had a Tub of Lard appearing as Paul Merton's team-mate, after politician Roy Hattersley offered to make a guest appearance on the show but backed out at the last minute (for the third time since the show began). Creator/AngusDeayton, the host, joked that the lard was "imbued with similar qualities and liable to give much the same performance". And Paul's team ''won'' (which they managed in spite of the producers having all their questions in the last round given in foreign languages, none of which Paul spoke).
48	* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'':
49	** Partway through the 127th Annual {{Upper Class Twit}} of the Year Show, crowd favorite Oliver St. John-Mollusc somehow manages to [[TooDumbToLive run himself over]] with his own car. This does not automatically disqualify him. [[spoiler:However, it does put him at the disadvantage of coming last.]]
50	--->'''Commentator:''' Oh! There's Oliver, he's dead, though he's not necessarily out of it!
51	** The "Face the Press" sketch is a debate between the Minister for Home Affairs and a small patch of brown liquid "which could be creosote or some extract used in industrial varnishing".
52	** The "Is There?" sketch is a discussion about the question of life after death, in which everyone but the host is dead.
53	* Inverted by the ''MTV Movie Awards'' in 1992. Before going to commercial, there was a joke category called "Best Performance By an Inanimate Object". One of the nominees: Music/VanillaIce [[TakeThat in]] ''Film/CoolAsIce''.
54	* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': In the Edgar Bergen episode, a blindfolded Gonzo wrestles a six-pound red brick. Not a Muppet brick; an ordinary, immobile, inanimate brick. [[spoiler:The brick wins, of course]].
55	* ''Series/NightCourt'': Dan Fielding once took part in a local election, and his competitor died. [[spoiler:Despite this, Dan still lost the election.]]
56	* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
57	** In one skit, they have a "Whose Pet is Best?" competition and one contestant is Rocco the rock.
58	** One "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures" skit has a bird competition. Bert enters Bernice, who's one of his pigeons, but Ernie enters his rubber duck.
59	* In one episode of ''Series/{{Telefrancais}}'', Jacques and Sophie participate in a SpellingBee, along with their pineapple friend Ananas, who serves as their mascot. When the match ends in a tie, it is called for the mascots to face off in a tiebreaker round, which Ananas wins because the other team’s mascot is a teddy bear.
60	* A minor subplot at the beginning of the fourth season of ''Series/TheWestWing'' is about a California congressional race between an entrenched Republican incumbent and a relatively strong Democratic challenger. Who then dies before the election. The deceased's campaign manager, Will Bailey, keeps the campaign going despite pressure from the White House to concede because he's trying to prove a point.
61	-->'''Will:''' Sixty percent is 6 of 10 in a focus group. You change one mind, it's a dead heat. You change two, it's a landslide. This campaign's a mechanism of persuasion. We're not asking for a show of hands.
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63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
66	* The Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship can be and has been won by anyone, anything, and at any time, as long as there's a referee around to count the pinfall. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_Heavymetalweight_Championship#Inanimate_objects It has been held by at least three different ladders, a painting, and a Hello Kitty doll.]] The 1,000th champion was the championship belt itself, having been tossed onto the supine current champion.
67	** [=DDT=] also famously has a roster member named "Yoshihiko", who is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LApVz53Spw actually a blow-up doll.]]
68	* Several indie promotions have held "invisible man" matches, where the talent essentially wrestles alone, which reached its apex in 2019 with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cslu7zFmPjM "Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan"]].
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
72	* ''TabletopGame/CardsAgainstHumanity'' has an option to play against a fake player called "Rando Cardrissian" that plays a random card every round. It's entirely possible to lose against a non-existent opponent.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Video Games]]
76	* ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'' has the Iron Checkpoint Crate, an otherwise-inanimate crate, as a SecretCharacter. Despite its non-sentience, it can still drive just as well as the rest of the drivers. Clearly the result of taking a joke on the ''Crash Bandicoot'' subreddit on how it should be playable and [[AscendedMeme making it happen]].
77	* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'': One puzzle in the future section requires the player to enter Cousin Ted Edison (a mummy) in a beauty contest. [[spoiler:Once the player has dolled up Ted and [[RemovingTheRival had another contestant eliminated]], Ted wins.]]
78	* Subverted in ''VideoGame/PropHunt'', where the objective is to either find all the players disguised as props or remain undetected by hunters until either time is up or they all kill themselves by shooting too many things that aren't players. The prop players are not strictly inanimate, although the aim is to make the hunters think that they are.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Web Animation]]
82	* In ''WebAnimation/ASDFMovie 12'', a {{cowboy}} gets into a duel with a toaster. The toaster produces a gun and shoots the cowboy.
83	* ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity'' is a [[ObjectShows game show]] full of {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s, but season 2 introduces Box, the only contestant that is truly inanimate. The other contestants frequently complain about its attitude. In ''WebAnimation/FansFantasticFeatures'', Box inexplicably wins a challenge to cross a kiddie pool on a tightrope (offscreen), but at least two characters still agree that it's just a cardboard box.
84	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': In season four, Sarge holds a competition to choose his new second in command. Since Simmons defected to the blue Team, Lopez is out of commission and Grif is, well, [[ButtMonkey Grif]], Donut assumes that the position is his by default, until Sarge adds two new competitors: a wrench and a mysterious skull of unknown origin. [[spoiler:Despite some genuine competition, Donut wins anyway.]]
85	* ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail''
86	** In "Montage", one of Strong Bad's montages is about [[TrainingMontage a wagon full of pancakes training for the "championship" against Homestar Runner.]] [[spoiler:The wagon full of pancakes manages to beat Homestar in one hit.]]
87	** In "Pet Show", Strong Bad enters The Cheat in... well, guess. The other competitors include Marzipan, who has entered the AmbiguouslyHuman Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, who has entered his [[CompanionCube dog-shaped cookie jar Trivia Time]], and the King of Town, who has entered a low-fat grill. The final scores are as follows: [[spoiler:Pom Pom and Trivia Time: 3.5. King of Town and Low-Fat Grill: Not supposed to be here! Marzipan and Homestar: 8.5. Strong Bad and The Cheat: Disqualified for "flagrant use of relish-foot".]]
88	* In the ''WebAnimation/WeeblAndBob'' episode "Awards", the Academy Awards-esque trophy for Bob's Best Friend goes to a small twig, to Bob's tearful joy and Weebl's disbelief. Subverted when the twig turns out to be Kevin the French stripper in disguise.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Web Original]]
92	* There are several Facebook groups in the vein of "Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickelback?" Oddly enough, these pages can and do get more fans than the thing they are competing against.
93	* Website/{{GameFAQs}} annual character battle was won by the L block from ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' in 2007.
94	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-liked_Instagram_posts The most-liked Instagram post in history]] (by almost ''three times'' Kylie Jenner's second-place post, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram_egg is a perfectly normal egg.]]
95	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'':
96	** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1370 SCP-1370,]] an [[AIIsACrapshoot insane]] but ultimately {{harmless\|Villain}} robot which constantly attempts (and utterly fails) to battle any sapient being it encounters, was once tricked by Foundation staff into trying to fight a potted plant. No, not another SCP, an ordinary, non-anomalous potted plant. The plant won.
97	** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1679 SCP-1679]] is a town whose mayor (SCP-1679-1) is a corpse that all of the town's inhabitants as well as most outsiders perceive as alive and is currently serving his sixth term.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Web Videos]]
101	* In ''WebVideo/TheMarkRemark'' review of the 2015 "WWE Fastlane" special, one wrestler compares another to a glass of milk. Martin then turned a glass of milk into his personal favorite wrestler. This got to the point where Martin asked his fans who they think should win a match, John Cena or Seth Rollins, and [[TakeAThirdOption they chose the glass of milk]].
102	* ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'': Zig-zagged in "[[Recap/SuperMarioLoganTheDogShow The Dog Show]]"; Bowser Junior enters Chompy, his pet Chain Chomp in the titular dog show hosted by Brooklyn T. Guy, while Joseph enters Mr. Bones, his pet dog who has become a skeleton as a result of neglect. Mr. Bones is the only inanimate competitor that actually gets to compete in the dog show due to Joseph "teaching" him how to play dead and stay. Jeffy, Jackie Chu, and Cody also try to enter their "dogs", but they all get disqualified due to Jeffy's dog being a hot dog, Jackie's being a cooked dog, and Cody's being a naked [[Franchise/{{Barbie}} Ken]] doll on a leash.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Western Animation]]
106	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'': During a company-wide charity drive, the company chooses its three most worthless employees to go around the building and compete to see who can raise the most money. The three competitors are [[TheSlacker Wally]], a dead guy who was found in the stairwell, and the dead guy's chair, which is given the name "Ronald". Wally feels like he's up against some steep competition.
107	** In another episode, the original {{Pointy Haired Boss}} loses at least two games of chess to a ''pineapple''. This had received some {{Foreshadowing}} earlier in the same episode when [[BlueCollarWarlock The World's Smartest Garbageman]] [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext made an offhand comment about the intelligence differences between pineapples and bananas]].
108	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Most Wanted Wish", Timmy was annoyed for once again being PickedLast in gym class. When he's the last one left, the team captain chooses a rock lying next to Timmy to join his team. Later in science class when the kids have to pick partners, the last two kids without partners are Timmy and Trixie. Mr. Crocker ends up pairing Trixie with the same rock from before, which she was happy to accept.
109	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
110	** In "Irwin Gets a Clue", Hoss Delgado explains to Irwin that when he was in high school, he was always getting upstaged by a traffic cone named Kyle until one day he had enough and transformed into the muscle-bound monster exterminator that he currently is. After hearing the story, Irwin asks what happened to Kyle, with Hoss saying that Kyle is "no longer a problem". Kyle is then shown chained to a radiator in a dimly-lit basement.
111	** At one point, Principal Goodvibes administers an IQ test to Billy, who scores a -5. Hoss Delgado, who is pretending to be Billy's father, asks what's wrong with this. Principal Goodvibes then clarifies that they also gave this test to a shovel and two candy bracelets, who each scored +17.
112	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': When Johnny runs for public office in "Hail to the Chump", he's dead last in the polls, with 99% of people preferring Carl and the remaining 1% (one person) saying "I like pie". Said pie later appears at the debate, and concedes the race afterward.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In Episode 238, Stumpy tries to run a race against a rock. Stumpy trips and falls on the ground, and the impact causes the rock to fly into the air and land on the finish line, and the rock is declared the winner.
114	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'', the kids have a pet show and one girl enters her toy monkey.
115	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' saw Doofenshmirtz use Planty the Potted Plant as a stand-in for Perry the Platypus after Perry didn't show up (Perry was actually working to stop a rogue bunny agent who had infiltrated the Flynn-Fletchers' home). Unlike other examples, this particular encounter is shown in some detail. Doof shoves Planty, hanging by a rope tied to the ceiling, and is whacked by Planty's swinging multiple times. After a cut to the episode's A-plot and musical number, it cuts back to show Doof with multiple bruises and his entire lab wrecked, with Doof calling him a worthy adversary and calling it a draw before his plan inevitably fails. Planty is awarded a medal by OWCA and welcomed to the agency, and thereafter makes frequent background cameos in future episodes.
116	** In "Unfair Science Fair", Doofenshmirtz's latest FreudianExcuse is that as a child he kept losing science fairs to competitors who had built baking soda volcanoes. He eventually gave up on science and decided to dedicate his life to poetry, only to lose a poetry contest to a baking soda volcano in an ArtsyBeret.
117	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'', Poe is seen fencing against someone who's just offscreen, their swords clashing together. His opponent turns out to be Mr. Buns, the stuffed rabbit. The second Mr. Buns is onscreen, the sword he was apparently wielding clatters to the floor as he just sits there, by all appearances an inanimate toy.
118	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
119	** In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E15DeepSpaceHomer Deep Space Homer]]", Homer is sure he's going to get the "Worker of the Week" award because he's the only person in the power plant who hasn't received the honor at least once already (and union rules say everyone has to win at least once), but instead it's given to an inanimate carbon rod. At the end of the episode, Homer grabs a similar rod and tries to hit a crewman with it, accidentally jamming it into the broken space shuttle door; it's shut tight, allowing a safe atmospheric re-entry and landing, saving the lives of the entire crew. A parade is given to the hero of the space mission... the carbon rod. Bart is a fan of the rod.
120	** In the much later episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E15CEDoh C.E.D'oh]]", a [[FreezeFrameBonus brief glimpse]] of the power plant's org chart reveals that the inanimate carbon rod is Homer's immediate superior.
121	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E15TheGreatSnailRaceMidLifeCrustacean The Great Snail Race]]", Patrick enters a rock named Rocky into the titular race. [[spoiler:Gary ends up crashing and Squidward's snail abandons the race to help him. While everyone was looking at those two, [[OffscreenRealityWarp Rocky had somehow crossed the finish line]]]]. Squidward's reaction provides the page quote.
122	* In the ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Bounty", Lord Hater hires three bounty hunters to capture Wander and Sylvia, one of whom is a potted plant. To [[TheDragon Commander Peepers]], who's repeatedly failed at the same task, this is the unkindest cut of all. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Turns out]] it's not only ambulatory but a ManEatingPlant to boot.]]
123	-->'''Peepers:''' You hired a plant to do ''my'' job?!\
124	'''Hater:''' Well, he can't possibly be worse at it than ''you'', can he?
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Real Life]]
128	* [[http://mentalfloss.com/article/26281/4-dead-politicians-who-still-got-elected 5 Politicians Who Got Elected Despite Being Dead.]]
129	* In 1923, one-time jockey Frank Hayes died during a steeplechase and ''won''.
130	* In 2000, Creator/MichaelMoore campaigned to [[CaligulasHorse get a ficus plant elected to Congress]], a reaction to the frequent unopposed re-election of incumbents. This inspired ficus campaigns in several other states.
131	* In [[https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCOURTS-paed-2_06-cv-01055 Riches v Bush,]] Jonathan Lee Riches' [[FrivolousLawsuit "lawsuit"]] against George Bush simply lists an absurd number of defendants, such as the Great wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore, Mount Vernon, and the Statue of Liberty.
132	* In an ancient example, Arrhichius of Philgaia, a three-time Olympic pankration champion defended his title as absolute top dog one last time when he got choked to death but forced his opponent to surrender by breaking his foot before he died. By the time the opponent conceded, however, Arrhichius was already dead. Following the rules of the sport, Arrhichius' corpse was crowned champion.
133	* Shortly after British Prime Minister UsefulNotes/LizTruss came into power in September 2022, her government released a disastrous mini-budget that trashed the British economy and required a comprehensive backflip in a timespan that ''Magazine/TheEconomist'' compared to "the shelf-life of a lettuce". In mid-October, with Truss' government sinking into further disrepute, the ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Star]]'' tabloid took this idea and ran with it, stating a livestream and asking which would last longer, Truss' political career or a head of lettuce. Six days later, the lettuce won.
134	[[/folder]]

Context Main / InanimateCompetitor